AT HOME

          Major Stanley Timms stood in his living room. He had a thick crystal glass in his hand that was half-full of Jack Daniels. He sipped the amber fluid and relaxed as he felt the warming sensation descending to his stomach. When he had arrived home earlier, he had showered. The hot water soothed his bruised body. His muscles were beginning to stiffen and become sore from the impact of the bomb blast. He had donned his favourite dressing gown and slippers and then joined his long-suffering wife in their living room. They had been married for thirty-years. Ceria, his wife was a French Vietnamese national. Born in Vietnam to Vietnamese parents, she had been orphaned at a young age and was then adopted by French parents. They had met when the Major had completed a tour of duty in war torn Cambodia. He had been on two weeks leave in neighbouring Vietnam and had met Ceria in an art gallery. She was a beautiful oriental woman with stunning dark eyes and a smile that lit up the room. Timms had fallen in love the first time he laid eyes on her and they married shortly after.

         Ceria passed her husband the crystal glass with his favourite tipple in it. She could see that he was troubled by the events of that day. They chatted a while about what had taken place, Stanley was always sad when he lost a man.

          He looked from his window out over the River Mersey. They had lived in this house for twenty-years; the views of the estuary below persuaded them to buy it. Helsby Hill was six miles from Liverpool City centre. The views from the hill were spectacular. To the left were open fields and river marshes, the rolling peaks of North Wales rose in the distance. In front and to the right, the Mersey estuary twisted its way to the Irish Sea. The river at this point is some three miles wide. The right hand bank of the river was the home to a huge chemical processing plant. I.C.I. manufactured fertilisers and paint ingredients. The chemical processes involved the use of thousands of gallons of water necessary for cooling huge tanks of chemicals. Hence its site on the bank of the river where there was an endless supply of water. The plant took on the appearance of a small city at night, thousands of lights illuminating the metal structures that stood on the riverbank.

              The left hand bank was the home of another large industrial plant called Stanlow Oil Refinery. Dozens of large white metal tanks stood in geometric rows housing millions of gallons of crude oil, petrol, diesel and high-octane jet fuel. Tankers from all over the world sailed in and out of the Mersey estuary delivering their precious black cargo. At the centre of the oil refinery was a tall white metal chimney that stood over 100-feet tall. From the top of the chimney a permanent flame could be seen from miles around. Timms looked from one riverbank to the other slowly and sighed, shaking his head. There were Soft Targets everywhere he looked and he couldn’t guard them all.

          “What is the matter Stanley? What are you thinking?” Ceria walked to him and hugged him tightly, hurting his bruised ribs. He winced sharply and laughed.

          “You don’t want to know what I am thinking, my love, it really doesn’t matter.”